Chapter 14 - Confrontation
Celestia stepped onto the balcony and into the long, deep red-orange light of sunset. The sun hung just above the horizon, awaiting her touch to end another day. She held her lips in a small smile, the best that she could muster despite how this task still delighted her even after several millennia.
As she reached the railing, she heard the soft clop of her sister's hoof-falls behind her. Luna had been oddly ... compliant since she had awoken. The word wasn't quite the right one, Celestia realized, but it was sufficient. Luna seemed to be doing everything to avoid debate or disagreement.
Celestia's horn glowed, and the sun slowly sank. She flicked her eyes towards Luna as the midnight blue pony stepped beside her. "A bit for your thoughts, dear sister," said Celestia softly.
Luna slowly smiled. "Perhaps I truly have none this evening."
"Nonsense," said Celestia in what she hoped was a playful tone. "You always have something which preoccupies you. Please, do share."
Luna watched the sun sink for a few moments before she finally said, "Perhaps I am concerned about Twilight."
"In what way?"
"You've placed a rather large responsibility in her hooves."
The sky deepened, and the horizon faded to a dusky orange as the last of the sun disappeared. Celestia turned to her sister. "I assume you speak of her negotiations with the changelings."
Luna stepped forward, her horn glowing. "Whatever else would I mean?" she said gently.
"It is not like you to worry about how Twilight will handle a task. You generally have as much confidence as I that Twilight will come through."
The sky slowly darkened, and the first sliver of the moon appeared at the horizon. "Perhaps, then, I am worried over nothing. Thank you for setting me straight in the matter."
Celestia stepped closer to her sister. "Dear Luna, was that sarcasm by any chance? It is, admittedly, a little hard to tell with you."
Luna remained silent, apparently in concentration as she raised the moon. Sparkling points of light appeared as the sky darkened towards full night. "Perhaps I was merely concerned that Twilight still had her mind on other matters."
"I see," said Celestia as she turned away from the railing. "And yet I still trust her ability to refocus her attention."
Luna said nothing as she completed raising the moon. She continued to stare at it even after the glow of her horn had faded.
Celestia looked thoughtful. "Would it help to know that things will be set right quite soon, dear sister?"
Luna turned towards her. "Come again? What will be set right?"
Celestia chuckled. "Please, don't play dumb. You're not very good at it. You know perfectly well what I mean."
"Very well," said Luna. "Are you saying that you have a solution to the quandary of the anomaly along Old Canterlot Way?"
"Yes."
Luna paused. "Well, that is good to hear."
Celestia had seen the look of surprise on Luna's face despite her attempt to suppress it. "It will be implementing it by morning."
"Then if you intend to be up late, perhaps I can assist."
"Actually, I intend to do it closer to sunrise." said Celestia. "And I am sorry, but this is not something you can assist with."
Luna forced a smile. "I do admit, it was an excuse to learn exactly what the mystery behind this is."
"If you are still interested, you are welcome to ask me come morning, and I will tell you."
Luna gave her sister a confused look. "Why would I not be interested? I imagine Twilight would be as well when she returns."
"If after today, no one sees the anomaly as a threat, there will be no reason to pursue it," said Celestia.
"And yet you're saying that if we are still interested, you will tell us."
"Yes. I promise."
"Pinkie Promise?"
Celestia chuckled. "Very well, dear sister. If you or Twilight are still interested in this anomaly come sunrise, I will tell you both everything. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Luna nodded slowly. "This is good to hear, Tia. Pardon my bluntness, but I am glad you have come to your senses on the matter."
"All I had asked for was a little time," said Celestia. "And now that I have been granted such, I am prepared to solve the matter. Then, perhaps, Twilight will consent to take up the task I had asked of her."
Luna hesitated. "What task?"
"Why, concluding the changeling negotiations of course. She will be much more eager to do it once this is over."
"Tia, you already sent Twilight--"
Celestia chuckled. "Dear Luna, I know her all too well, almost as well as I know you. She's not on her way to the changeling conference. She's planning something, something that is simply unnecessary."
Luna's mind raced. "Assuming what you say is true, then would it not be prudent to speak to her tonight?"
"I need to conduct this in my own way and time. Have I not already made my Pinkie Promise to you?"
Luna went over the promise in her head, as if trying to find some way her sister could wriggle out of it. "I suppose you have," she said in a cautious voice.
Celestia turned and started off the balcony. "Then I request you send a letter to Twilight informing her of my intentions."
Luna remained still and stared at her sister. "Why do you not do this yourself?"
Celestia stopped and turned towards her. "I know you've been colluding with her, Luna," Celestia said in a subdued voice. "And I imagine she's lost some faith in me. She likely trusts you right now more than she does me."
Luna stepped towards her. "And would this not be the perfect time to rectify that?"
"I will, when I tell her everything that has happened. In the morning."
Luna sighed. "I do not understand why you insist on waiting."
"And yet, is it that much of a hardship?"
"No, I suppose not," Luna said in a flat voice.
"Then, please, send your missive," said Celestia as she trotted forward. "Then we may partake of dinner, and I can retire for the night."
"Yes, of course, Tia."
Shafts of deepening sunset light stretched across the length of the tavern, glinting off the seven steins of apple cider -- and one glass of lemonade -- that the server carried in her magical aura. She approached the table and set down each of the drinks, all the while her gaze flicking from patron to patron. No sooner than her eyes fixed on one did they simply slide off, as if she knew these were no more than nondescript ponies not worth even worrying about.
She accepted the bits from a unicorn she was sure she had never seen before and would never see again. She would be hard-pressed even to remember what her cutie mark looked like. At least the unicorn tipped well. "Anything else?" the server dutifully asked.
"No, thank you, we're good," said the unicorn in a voice as nondescript as her appearance.
The server shrugged and headed away.
Under the veil of the incognito spell, Rainbow eyed Twilight. "So this is your plan? Sitting in a bar in Canterlot out in plain view?"
"Not at all in plain view, Rainbow," said Twilight with a smile. "We won't be recognized so long as Starlight's spell is in force."
Fluttershy's eyes darted from side to side. "Um, are you sure this spell is really hiding us?"
"Positive," said Starlight. "It's the same spell I used on myself while I was, um, observing Twilight prior to our little altercation."
"Ya mean while ya were stalkin' her," Applejack deadpanned.
"Uh, yeah, if you must put it that way," Starlight murmured.
"Oh, the sacrifices I make!" Rarity said. "To not be recognized for who I am in the heart of the fashion district of Canterlot! But I suppose it's better than traversing some dusty caves."
"It's not better, it's boring!" Rainbow said. "Why can't we just stick to the original plan?"
"Because I don't like the idea of breaking into the palace," declared Twilight. "I've already explained this to Starlight. I don't want to treat Celestia as the enemy."
"This still seems deceptive ta me," said Applejack. "We're still sneakin' about like some kinda bandits."
"It's only until we get to the palace. I just don't want to give Celestia any warning that we're coming."
"So we're not breaking into Princess Celestia's archive either?" Rainbow groaned.
"Not in the sense that we're going to force our way in," said Twilight. "We're going to walk in."
"That still don't sit right with me, Twi," said Applejack. "It still seems like stealin'."
"Except we won't be, not really," explained Twilight. "Yes, we'll be removing the spell anchors from her archive, but we won't take them any further than Celestia's office. We then summon her and explain what we know and convince her to break the spell."
"What if she refuses?" asked Fluttershy.
Twilight glanced towards the window as the sun set. "Then we take matters into our own hooves," said Twilight in a low voice. "We break the spell ourselves."
"And if Princess Celestia tries to stop you?" asked Starlight.
"I'm hoping she won't."
"That don't answer the question," said Applejack.
"Maybe it's something I don't want to contemplate," said Twilight. "I can't believe Celestia would pit herself against me."
"As powerful as you are, darling, I'm not sure you want to find out of if you'd ever win a confrontation like that," said Rarity.
Twilight cast a sad look at her. "It's not that. Just the act itself would be devastating, and I don't mean in a magical sense. This is not about winning, it's about--"
Pinkie abruptly gasped and leapt out of her seat, her eyes wide. She hung in the air for a few moments in blatant defiance of gravity before falling back into her seat.
"Pinkie, is everything okay?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie smiled. "Wow, did somepony in Canterlot make a huuuuuge Pinkie Promise!"
"Uh, how would you even know that?" Rainbow asked.
"Normally, I don't. Weird, huh?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Look, can I at least pick an argument with a Royal Guard just to say I did something interesting?"
Twilight face-hoofed. "Rainbow, how many times do I have to explain this? I want as little confrontation as possible."
"But now that she mentioned it, what about the Royal Guard?" Starlight asked. "Won't they say something to Princess Celestia when they see us in the palace?"
"That's why I want to wait until Celestia is in bed," said Twilight. "Even if they do go to rouse her, it will still give us a little more time."
Starlight smirked. "They won't say anything if I zap them with--"
"No," Twilight declared.
Starlight sighed. "Fine, do it the hard way, then."
"You're still missing the point. This isn't about--"
Spike belched green fire, and he grabbed the scroll that materialized before him. He partially unrolled it. "It's from Princess Luna."
Twilight's eyes widened. "I was expecting Luna to send me word when Celestia retired for the evening, but this is rather early." She grasped it in her magic and unrolled it. "Dear Twilight: Celestia has promised that she will disclose all details of the anomaly in the morning. She has surmised that you might be planning something."
"Wait, what?!" Rainbow cried.
"So much for secrecy," Starlight muttered.
"Thus she requests that you reconsider your course of action," Twilight continued. "Please think on this for a while, Twilight. Sincerely, Princess Luna."
"So, um, now what?" Fluttershy asked.
"Sounds like the Princess came to her senses without us havin' ta skulk about," said Applejack.
Rainbow propped her head up with a hoof. "Yeah. Weee."
Starlight frowned and turned to Twilight. "Do you actually believe her?"
Twilight stared at the scroll. "I want to believe her. I want to give her a chance, but ... I-I don't know."
"What's the danger in givin' her that chance?" asked Applejack. "An' avoidin' a fight neither of ya want?"
"But why did Luna send this?" said Twilight. "Why didn't Celestia send it?"
"Unless she's just playing more games with you," Starlight muttered.
Twilight read the scroll again. "Please think on this for a while," she murmured. She looked up. "All right, that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"I'm sorry?" said Rarity.
"Luna may have had to send this with Celestia looking over her shoulder," said Twilight. "This may be her way of telling me to hold off on making a decision just yet."
"So what do we do?" asked Fluttershy.
Twilight rolled up the scroll. "We wait."
"Great," Rainbow moaned.
Luna's usual nighttime routine consisted of holding Night Court until around midnight, then spending the remainder of the night dreamwalking. Yet after hearing only one petition that evening, Luna found herself too distracted to continue. As the noblepony left the room, she called Tight Schedule into her presence.
"We have quite the full docket tonight, Princess," said Tight without looking up from her clipboard. "I suggest that you next entertain the motion from--"
"I am considering suspending the remainder of the proceedings tonight," said Luna.
Tight's head snapped up, her ears drooping. "May I ask why?"
"I have much heavier matters on my mind."
"Surely you have time to entertain at least one or two more nobles," said Tight. "Otherwise you will be swamped into next week! Or worse: they'll show up at Day Court."
Luna frowned. Something about the way her sister had worded the Pinkie Promise still bothered her, which delayed her from sending the all-clear message to Twilight. She hoped Twilight had noticed her subtle clue about waiting before deciding to abandon her plans. "I preside over Night Court, therefore it is my decision and responsibility alone."
Tight frowned. "Very well, Princess, I just hope this won't get back to Princess Celestia."
"I would not concern yourself with that. I will apprise her of the situation in the morning."
"I daresay you won't have to wait that long," Tight muttered.
Luna raised an eyebrow. "What did you mean by that?"
"I saw Princess Celestia a short while ago."
Luna's eyes widened. "You saw her? Where??"
Tight was taken aback enough by the vehemence of the question that she just stared for a few seconds. "Um, well, she was headed for the Canterlot Archives."
"What part of the Archives?" Luna demanded.
Tight's pupils shrank. "I-I'm not sure, I--"
"Come, come, Tight Schedule, it is your job to remember small details!" Luna thundered. "What section was she headed towards?!"
Tight swallowed hard. "The H-High Magic section, Princess."
"You will inform the nobles that Night Court is temporarily suspended," said Luna. "Do everything you can to keep the nobles here. Under no circumstances is anypony to even think that Night Court has been canceled. I will return."
"Of course, Princess," said a confused Tight Schedule as Luna galloped away.
It had finally clicked in Luna's head exactly what part of the phrasing of Celestia's promise had bothered her: If you or Twilight are still interested in this anomaly come sunrise, I will tell you both everything.
If you or Twilight are still interested ...
Luna entered her quarters, grabbed a blank scroll and quill, and began to write. Dear Twilight ...
"... I fear I must warn you of what I believe is my sister's true intention," said Twilight with a slight quaver to her voice as she read Luna's letter while they walked a dark side street in Canterlot. "I hope I am wrong, but I believe Celestia plans on not only renewing the spell, but making you, me, and your friends, forget that the anomaly ever existed!"
"What?!" Rainbow cried. "She can't do that!"
"Uh, I think she can," said Spike. "She did it once already."
Twilight lowered the letter, her eyes glistening. "Spike is right! She has more than enough power to pull off such a spell. She's already done it before and suppressed the memories of hundreds of ponies. What's a few more?"
"She can't do it if we use our Rainbow Power!" said Rainbow.
"We can't maintain that forever. At some point, we have to relinquish it, and then the spell will affect us."
"Can you shield against it?" Spike suggested.
"It's the same problem, Spike," said Twilight. "I can't keep it up forever."
"What's the chance that Princess Luna is wrong, Twi?" asked Applejack.
"I don't know," said Twilight. "But Luna knows her sister better than anypony in Equestria. I-I don't want to think that she would do something like this, but can I take the chance?"
"I say we don't," said Rainbow. "Let's go in there and get those diaries!"
"I agree with her," said Starlight. "If we don't do this now, we'll never be able to do it."
"I-I don't want us to cause trouble," said Fluttershy. "But I don't want a spell wiping my memories, either."
"I most certainly do not!" Rarity declared. "That is simply a step too far."
"And I don't ever want to forget anything I ever did with my friends!" Pinkie said.
"Twi, I'm with ya whatever ya decide now," said Applejack. "When Discord messed with my head that time, I vowed that was the last time I'd ever let somepony do that ta me again."
"All right," said Twilight in a firm voice as she rolled up the scroll. "We'll get to the palace as soon as we can. I'll mass teleport us if I have to." She paused. "But first, I want to send a letter to Princess Luna. I have an idea."
Celestia glanced around her as she entered the High Magic section of the Canterlot Archives. The library was dim and silent, her muffled hoofsteps against the carpet the only sound.
She came upon a sign that said "RESTRICTED SECTION - Contact the Master Archivist for assistance". A simple velvet rope blocked the way. Celestia unhooked it from one of its posts and held it aloft long enough for her to pass before letting it fall back into place. A glow of her horn, and the lights rose enough for her to see the scrolls and books that packed the shelves. She advanced further, the tomes becoming less dense as she entered the Dark Magic section.
The irony was not lost on her. Many had questioned why she would ever want to keep information on such forbidden magicks. She had defended her decision by stating that all knowledge was precious; simply having knowledge was neither good nor evil, it all depended on what one did with it.
Yet now she was about to use it specifically to continue hiding knowledge from others.
She tried to use the same rationale that she had twenty-one years prior, that she had only the welfare of her ponies in mind. It was too soon for such information to reenter the public eye. Luna had been only partially correct; while Celestia had intended to make Luna and others forget about the anomaly, she refused to touch Twilight's mind again. In the past, she had what she had believed to be a very good excuse, but it rang hollow now. Adult Twilight was nothing like foal Twilight. Celestia just wanted a chance to fix things before she had to admit to her failings.
Celestia found the correct scrolls and levitated them to the lectern. As she read, memories tugged at her aching heart, yet she resisted falling into a useless cycle of "what if". Just as she fought her inner demons to an acceptable stalemate, her head whipped around when she heard a noise. She frowned and rolled up the scroll with a snap as soft hoof-falls approached. "What are you doing here?" Celestia said in a curt voice.
"I could ask you the same thing, sister," said Luna, her lips twisted into a frown. "But I think I already know."
Celestia took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice was less hostile. "How much does Twilight really know, Luna?"
Luna hesitated.
"Come now, sister. Don't you think this cloak and dagger has gone on long enough? You and she were never good at it to begin with."
"You should talk about such things, Tia," said Luna. "It is you who started this."
"Now you sound like a foal on the playground. Teacher, she started it."
"Sarcasm does not become you."
"Nor does your defiance against me."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "And you think that is what this is about, just being defiant? Do you mistake me for Nightmare Moon?"
Celestia paused, her gaze softening. "I am sorry, I did not quite mean it that way."
"Yet you have been acting like you expect us all to fall in line with your will."
"If you only understood how I felt about--"
"Then educate us!" Luna exclaimed. "Stop keeping us in the dark! Can you not see how foolish you are acting?"
"You never answered my question," said Celestia softly. "How much does Twilight know?"
"How much do you think she knows?" asked Luna.
"Please, don't play games."
"Why not? You've been doing it with us."
Celestia remained silent and averted her eyes.
"You want the truth?" said Luna. "My original intent in coming here was merely to distract you."
Celestia's eyes snapped back to Luna's. "Then Twilight is planning something. I need to go."
Celestia tried to step around Luna, but Luna shifted position and stood in her sister's way. "Listen to me, Tia. I was going to meet deception with deception. The original plan Twilight and I had worked out was yet another deception. Even what she settled on is still a deception of sorts. This has to stop."
Celestia swallowed hard.
"Don't you see what's happening?" Luna said. "You're letting your need for secrecy get out of control. Equestria was built on Harmony, not lies!"
"What I did was to protect Harmony!" Celestia thundered, though her voice quavered. "And to protect Equestria! Don't you dare presume that I don't have my ponies' interests at heart!"
Luna's eyes widened, and she backed up a step, but her sister had not taken advantage of the moment to get around her. "I would never presume that," said Luna in a solemn voice. "I believe that whatever you did, you had what you thought was a good reason. What I am questioning are your actions now, not then."
"You say the deception needs to stop," said Celestia, her voice tinged with desperation. "Then tell me what Twilight knows."
"Very well," said Luna. "She knows of a pony named Sunset Shimmer, and that she is her aunt. She knows Sunset was once your student. She knows you cast a Dark Magic spell to suppress all record of her, as well as a mind magic spell to cover up the gaps in the historical record. She knows Sunset worked with both portal magic and transformation magic."
Celestia's eyes shimmered. "She knows all that?"
Luna smiled. "You should be proud of her. She had little to go on other than her own faint memories and a set of hunches."
"I am proud of her," Celestia said in a small voice.
"Then honor that," Luna declared. "Stop what you're planning to do and talk to her."
Celestia remained silent, her eyes downcast.
"Tia, Twilight has agonized over her plans. She doesn't want to confront you, but she refuses to let this go any further, not when her own family is involved." Luna paused. "I told you my original intent had been to distract you. That was until I received an urgent missive from Twilight. My being candid with you just now was her idea."
Celestia raised her head. "She ... what??"
"That's how much she values her friendship with you," said Luna in a softer voice. "That's how much she still trusts you. She's giving you every chance in the world to see reason, knowing full well you will be forewarned and could stop her."
Celestia glanced at the magic scrolls she still levitated off to the side. Her eyes misted. "I need to do what I feel is right, Luna," she said in a flat voice. "I-I have a greater good to consider."
Luna sighed and lowered her head. "I hope you can live with yourself, then. I likely won't be able to question you anymore after tonight."
Celestia let out a ragged sigh as she stepped around Luna. "I'm returning to my room," she said in a quavering voice. "Do not follow me, and do not disturb me."
Luna bit back a response and simply watched her go with sad eyes.
The quiet of Celestia's office was abruptly shattered by a brief explosion of displaced air. Papers flew from the top of the desk, and pencil holders tipped over, their contents clattering to the tiled floor. A portrait of Starswirl the Bearded on the back wall became skewed.
Applejack swayed, placing a hoof to her forehead and splaying her other hooves to steady her. "Woo, that was a mite rough!"
Fluttershy nearly swooned, and her face took on a greenish pallor, her stomach rumbling ominously. "Urk ... I-I think I'm going to be sick ..."
Starlight suddenly thrust a glass bottle in her face, pulling the cork free from the neck. "Here, drink this!"
Fluttershy grabbed the bottle in her shaky fore-hooves and drank. Very soon, her face returned to a more healthy color. "Oh, I think I feel better now," said Fluttershy. She smiled. "Thank you."
"What in tarnation was that?" Applejack asked.
Starlight took the empty bottle from Fluttershy. "Oh, um, it's an old family recipe. Since I knew we might have to mass teleport once or twice, I whipped it up before we came here." She hesitated and ran a hoof though her mane. "Um, seems like somepony in my family was notorious for upchucking every time she practiced teleportation until she got the hang of it." She blushed. "Can't for the life of me remember who that was now."
Applejack chuckled. "Uh-huh. Sure. Still, that was mighty nice of ya."
"Sorry about that, everypony," said Twilight. "I don't normally have to teleport that many ponies at once."
Starlight looked around. "Well, we're here. Where's Celestia's archive?"
Twilight glanced at Spike. "Spike, please put the diary we brought on the desk if you would." She stepped up to the back wall. "There's likely a hidden door in this wall." Her horn glowed. "I can sense a room beyond this one."
"So how do we get in?" Rainbow asked.
"That's easy!" said Pinkie. "Let's just drill through the wall!"
"Sounds good to me."
"We are not destroying the office," Twilight declared. She slowly stepped along the back wall, horn still glowing. "We're going to find the right place to enter."
"I must admit, this is rather exciting," said Rarity. "Secret doors and passages are so much part of the latest Shadow Spade novels!"
Rainbow looked askance at her. "You're not going to start narrating to some unseen audience while everything around you goes all noir, are you?"
Suddenly a large rectangle on the back wall glowed. "I found it!" Twilight cried. "It's right here."
"Well, let's open it, then," said Starlight.
"I'm going to have to figure out how. There's likely some sort of sophisticated magical code."
Rarity stepped up. "Or you could try rapping on the wall to the right three times."
"I don't think it's that simple," said Twilight.
"It is if you read Shadow Spade."
Twilight sighed. "Rarity, I honestly don't think Celestia would put in--"
Starlight stepped forward and thumped her hoof on the wall three times.
"--something so ridiculously easy that reading a--"
Click. The rectangular panel swung inward.
"--Shadow Spade novel would give you the answer." Twilight paused, stared at the opening, and face-hoofed.
"Good goin', Rarity!" said Applejack.
"How in the world did you know that would work?!" Twilight cried.
Rarity smiled. "Oh, just my sharpened investigative senses, darling, that's all."
Pinkie pointed a hoof towards a bookcase. "And the fact that Princess Celestia has a whole shelf full of Shadow Spade novels!"
Rarity tossed her mane. "Ahem. Yes, well, that, too."
Fluttershy gasped as she glanced towards the door. "I hear s-somepony's coming!"
"We need to get the spell anchors now," Twilight said. "Starlight, you take the lead and find any books with mind magic in them. Those will be the ones we want."
"Uh, I'd love to," said Starlight. She poked the air before the open secret door. Magic flared and rippled. "But we have a little problem."
Twilight stared. "A magic seal?!"
"Break through it!" Rainbow cried.
"It's going to take me time we don't have!"
"Oh, no!" Fluttershy cried as she cantered away from the door when hoofbeats stopped just outside.
"This is what I didn't want," Twilight said. "I didn't want a confrontation with--"
"Twilight, if you're in there, please, let me in!" came a muffled voice from the hall.
Twilight gasped and unlatched the door with her magic, throwing it open. "Princess Luna!"
Luna rushed inside. "Twilight, you don't have much time. Celestia is going to renew the spell as soon as she finishes researching the proper magic. It could be only minutes now."
"We can't get in," said Twilight, thrusting a wing towards the secret door. "There's a magic seal across the entrance. It's going to take me ages to work out how to defeat it."
Rainbow flew up. "Then we make a stand right here! She can't renew the spell if she can't get into the Archive."
"What stops her from teleporting in?" said Rarity.
"Twilight can cast a teleportation shield," said Starlight. "I can help maintain it if she needs her magic to work the seal."
"All your plans are for naught, I am afraid," said Luna as she stepped forward. "Tia has a secret passage from her room directly to her Archive."
"I didn't want to say it, but I thought that as well," said Rarity. "Classic Shadow Spade move."
Twilight looked up at Luna. She felt more than a twinge of guilt, but she had no alternative. "There is one pony here who can break this seal right now," said Twilight in a low voice.
Luna uttered a despairing sigh.
"Well, who is it?" demanded Rainbow.
"That would be me," said Luna.
"I don't get it," said Starlight. "No offense, Princess, but I thought Celestia's magic was stronger than yours."
"It is," said Luna as she stepped up to the hidden door. "But after I returned from the moon, Tia placed a failsafe within the walls of the palace. It was meant for the case of one of us needing to break a seal when the other was indisposed or in serious trouble."
"Then let's do it!" Rainbow said.
Luna frowned. "This is not something to be taken lightly, Rainbow Dash. She had installed that failsafe not just for practical reasons, but as a show of faith and trust in me. I feel I am violating that now. I wished I had gotten through to Celestia when I spoke to her earlier."
"But if she ain't gonna come around, then we can't wait no longer," said Applejack. "If all she has ta do is read some scrolls before she can cast the spell, we gotta hustle!"
Luna sighed. "Very well." Her horn glowed, and she lowered her head slightly. Light flashed around the door. "It is done."
Starlight poked her hoof forward but encountered only empty air. "Spell anchors coming right up!" she said before disappearing inside.
Twilight stepped over to Luna. "Thank you speaking with Celestia, I really appreciate it."
"Do not thank me," said Luna. "I failed."
"But did you?"
Luna hesitated. "I do not understand."
Twilight looked around. "If you hadn't gotten through to her at least a little, why isn't she here already?"
"It is as I said, she needs to complete her readings to renew the spell," said Luna.
Twilight shook her head. "It doesn't take long for somepony of her ability to read a few scrolls for magic she's already familiar with. It's more like she's letting me do this."
"Twilight, that is a huge leap of faith."
"Yes, but that's what friendship is based on," said Twilight. "Faith in your friends. Even after all that's happened, I still have faith in her."
"Got them!" came Starlight's cry. She emerged from the Archive with sixteen books levitated around her, all bearing Celestia's cutie mark.
"Arrange them on the table, please," said Twilight.
"So now what?" asked Fluttershy. "Do we summon our Rainbow Power?"
A voice sounded at the door. "That won't be necessary, kind Fluttershy."
All ponies spun around. Twilight's breath caught in her throat.
Celestia stood in the door. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the fur on her face was damp. For a few pregnant moments, nopony said a word. Celestia took a deep breath as if she were about to talk, but let it go as a shuddering sigh.
Twilight swallowed hard. The speech she had carefully constructed and memorized for this occasion now seemed horribly irrelevant. "Celestia," she finally said in a halting voice. "We ... I ... I can't let this continue. We don't want a confrontation ... we just ..."
She tailed off. Words failed her as she stared at Celestia.
Celestia stepped forward. "Twilight Sparkle," she said in a quavering voice. She glanced at her sister. "I've ... I've made a terrible mistake in deceiving you. And I almost just made another one."
"You were going to renew the spell," said Twilight in a flat voice.
"Yes, Twilight."
"And wipe the memories of Luna, myself, and my friends of this anomaly."
"Not you."
Twilight hesitated. "I'm sorry?"
"I never intended to include you. I was going to tell you about this once I took care of the anomaly. I was going to tell you everything."
Twilight remained silent for a long moment. She glanced at her friends and exchanged a long look with Luna before finally turning her gaze back to her former mentor. "And that's supposed to make me feel better?"
Celestia blinked and simply stared.
"So I get to be the privileged one," said Twilight, her voice rising. "I get to be special. Meanwhile my grandparents go on thinking that they never had a daughter! And my father thinking he never had a sister!"
"Twilight, I understand you're upset--" Celestia began.
"No, you don't understand!" Twilight shouted. "Or you wouldn't have done it in the first place! I'm not even sure if I'm really angry with you or just the situation. All I know is it can't go on." She turned, and her horn glowed. The covers of all the books on the desk flipped open. "And it won't go on. I want my memories back."
Celestia stepped forward. "You'll have them back. Right now."
Twilight paused before turning to face her.
"And your family, if that is what you want."
"Yes, that's exactly what I want," said Twilight.
"But I beg of you to let me limit it to just them," said Celestia. "Let me explain, let me make you understand what happened and what I did, and why I did it."
"That's all I had wanted from the start," said Twilight. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Celestia."
Celestia strode forward towards the open book. "You have every right to be angry with me, Twilight. But I still wish to thank you."
A very faint smile came to Twilight's muzzle.
"Thank her?" said Starlight. "For what?"
"For taking the chance and having Luna talk to me earlier. For having faith in me when I gave you little reason to do so. I'm sure you feared I could stop you in an instant." She looked over to Luna and gave her a small smile. "Fortunately, Luna knows not to hold back when she feels her sister is being a fool."
Twilight stepped up to her. "Then I was right? You let me get this far?"
"Indeed, I did," said Celestia. "But only because I was too much of a coward to do it myself."
"Please, don't call yourself--"
"No, Twilight, it's time we face the truth, me most of all," Celestia declared. "But let me do as I promised, and rid you and your family of this curse." She glanced over the books. "First, you will need all the anchors."
"Er, what?" said Starlight. "I thought I had all of them."
Celestia gave her a wan smile. "Not quite." Her horn glowed, and another book flew into the room from the Archive. Unlike the others, its cover was less fancy and was embossed with a red and yellow sun.
"That's Sunset's cutie mark on the cover!" Twilight exclaimed.
Starlight stared. "How did I miss that??"
"Because this one has no mind magic on it, dear Starlight," said Celestia.
"So if we actually did try to remove the spell--" Twilight began.
"It would not have worked." Celestia placed the new book in the center and stepped up to the desk. "Now, please, allow me to concentrate."
The others gasped as tendrils of absolute black suddenly roiled up from each of the books like squirming tentacles, twisting and writing as if in pain. Celestia's horn blazed, and they shuddered at the light. Instead of recoiling, they were drawn towards it, as if being sucked in against their will. The tendrils converged around Celestia's horn, twisting and coiling around it as if trying to somehow strangle it. Celestia whipped her head up. The tendrils snapped and shot back into their books. The bits she had broken off dissipated as the glow of her horn died. "It is done."
"Twilight!" Spike cried, springing to her side when she suddenly swayed. "You okay?!"
Twilight trembled, raising a hoof to her forehead. "I-I'm all right. I just ... a-a sudden flood of not just memories but emotions overwhelmed me for a moment. I'll be okay."
"I fully intend to reveal all," said Celestia. "But might I ask that we pick this up in the morning?"
Luna smiled. "That would be more in keeping with your Pinkie Promise to me."
Pinkie gasped. "I knew somepony had made a huge Pinkie Promise! Ha, it was Princess Celestia the whole time. We're going to hear the truth for sure!"
"I'm fine with waiting until the morning," said Twilight.
"We'd all be better off with some shuteye," said Applejack.
"Thank you for trusting me that far," said Celestia in a subdued voice. "I know I have done little to have earned it lately."
"Let's not dwell on that right now," said Twilight. "I don't want to blame anypony for this, I just want to understand."
"Thank you, Twilight. Thank you, everypony. You give me more consideration than perhaps I--"
A scroll suddenly popped into existence before her. She unrolled it and read:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Cady and I will be in Canterlot by tomorrow afternoon. You and me have a LOT to talk about.
Yours,
Shining Armor
Celestia sighed. "Tomorrow is going to be a long day."
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This is quickly becoming one of my favorite stories of all ti-
Oh who am I kidding. It was my favorite from the start. You, sir/madam, win the metaphysical idea of the internet.
End of Arc One.
I'll admit I was expecting the confrontation with Celestia to turn into an all out brawl.
What I didn't expect was Celestia surrendering so easily, yet it makes sense. Celestia is totally the kind of pony that would choose harmony and peace over protection and deception. (Also breaking a pinkie promise would not bode well).
Still, I was hoping for the tension to escalate to that point but, oh well.
This is just the eye of the storm.
I can't wait to see what happens when that passes. :D
mite.
You and I
Oh, you don't know the HALF of it.
An interesting twist would be if, after all that, she decided to redo the spell anyway. As i understand, in some stories, a seal can't be redone until it's fully undone.
7957942
If that happened, I'd definitely want someone to hoof Tia in the face.
Damn, looks like Celestia ended up caving in....
Celestia has to paid the debt.. ,
At least she didn't renew the spell...
Soooo... They more or less "win" only because of Celestia goodwill? She could totally renew a spell when they try to break it without all of necessary items.
That went better then expected. Now we get more of Sunset's story and what fully happened to her.
So,...
I guess Sunset is the culprits .. she cast a spell so that human transformation to pony ?
This was beautifully handled: both Twilight's emotions, and Celestia's gradual understanding that shouldn't keep hiding from Twilight.
I'm thankful it didn't have to come to blows.
But if Shining Armor's letter is any indication, the shit will only begin to hit the fan.
It's about time someone didn't make Celestia go full Tyrant Celestia when she makes a mistake like this.
Am I the only one who finds it deeply suspicious that Celestia asks to put everything off until tomorrow, despite supposedly "coming clean" right now? I dearly hope that someone (possibly Starlight? She's the one who has seemed to be more smart and savvy than the rest of the group combined) thinks of taking at least some of the journals with them and casts some sort of a mental protection spell during the night - something that would at least give them enough warning of tampering to go Rainbow Power if need be, because I'm not at all inclined to believe that this isn't Celestia's last attempt at pulling a fast one.
Considering that in this very chapter she demonstrated perfect willingness to essentially lie while looking someone in the eye (her whole pinkie promise to Luna) and give false reassurances in order to pull wool over their eyes, it would be immeasurably naive to take her word on her good intentions now. If she is left in possession of all her books, there is going to be nothing stopping her from trying to recast the spell while everyone's asleep - certainly not Luna, who just demonstrated that she herself has no spine and will ultimately let Celestia do whatever she pleases, even to her own mind and memories, unless someone else is there to prod her into reluctant action.
Perhaps Celestia was actually being truthful. Perhaps she wasn't. But even if you have faith, it would be beyond naive and irresponsible to place all the cards in the hands of the established liar who can make all of you forget she ever actually lied to you come morning if she feels like it, or if she chickens out of the commitment mid-night, even if she was truthful at the moment of making the statement. She's far from having earned or be deserving of that kind of trust, it's donwright dangerous to give it to her in fact, and the group should be aware of this.
So ... yeah, i really hope at least Starlight takes precautions, because otherwise it feels like there is a significant chance that a group of very confused ponies wakes up in Canterlot tomorrow, wondering how and when they ended up taking a group trip to the castle and how much alcohol was involved to make them forget the trip.
---
As for the human side - whoo boy, the tension's getting thick and the doomsday clock is ticking ever closer to the final hour
If Fred has progressed this far, it shouldn't be more than a day or two (at most, I believe) for others to start developing hooves. And that's going to cause mass panic like a wildfire. I can't even imagine what all the various scenarios are on how this could develop, but things are probably going to get a whole lot worse town-wide before they get better.
And looks like Fred's already getting his first influx of Earth Pony magic ... just wait until there are crowds of panicky humans with pegasus or unicorn magic, the later of which seems especially susceptible to emotional outbursts
Unless I'm envisioning things in an especially grim way, the town may well be in for the pandemonium of its lifetime.
On another note - hmm, now we have our first inkling of what's going on with Sunset. I am going to assume Celestia's spell leaked through the rift and infected at least the nearby surroundings, which is why everyone at the refugee camp seemed to forget about her existence. We know the spell affects records as well, which is why Fred probably couldn't find any evidence of her having ever been at the camp in the army's logs. Which would leave to him becoming paranoid and believing there is some huge government conspiracy, while leaving everyone else to believe that he has lost it.
I can't wait to see how things unfold from here, and how Sunset ties into all this and what her plan seems to be - I'm assuming she has one, at any rate. Can hardly wait for the next chapter
Ah, there's the "it" that went missing from the last chapter! It got swapped with the "I" that was supposed to go here!
14 chapters and am still anticipating for the equestrian ponies and the earthLING ponies (assuming they are by that time) meet
14
Yeaaaaahhhh, not buying it, Tia. I'm like 90% sure she just time-bombed the dark spell instead.
7957938
Thanks. Fixed!
7958225
Thanks. Fixed!
7958457
Hell yeah. This is exactly the same stunt she pulled with Luna earlier! She was all "Sure, I'll tell you the truth ... tomorrow" and then went to sneak behind Luna's back to try and erase their memories.
Now she's pulling the same "Sure, I'll tell you the truth ... tomorrow" routine again. Like, this is exactly how she tricked them just a few hours ago. Why are they falling for the same trick again !?
*headdesk* Being a con artist is the easiest thing ever in such a land of gullible idiots! 
I feel upset mostly with Luna in this story because she's been giving me the impression of being so passive and almost submissive in this story until right until the "end". She should've of been demanding information immediately considering this is practically a massive issue that someone of her station should know.
7958788
Indeed - submissive is a very apt word to describe Luna in this story. She doesn't really dare do anything of note; Celestia simply rides roughshod over her and tells Luna to her face that she is going to use dark magic to alter/erase her memory, and all Luna can muster up in response is some weak mumbling about hoping that Celestia's conscience can take it.
And even after all that - after being outright dismissed by Celestia and being informed that she will have her memory erased, she doesn't want to break Celestia's ward spell because it represents the trust Celestia has in her? She is a pretty sorry sight - like an abused puppy who dares not raise voice against her master, no matter what said master does.
7959313
Can't believe I missed that one
Thanks for pointing that out. Just fixed it now.
wat
Well, that went... better than expected. I'm still not confident that Celestia's not trying to pull something here. Long as this spell exists, she can send them all back to square one, at least until enough people on Earth are ponies to make the portal thingy reverse polarities, or whatnot. She might even be thinking that she can convince Twilight that it is a secret that must be kept, and so screw over everyone else until it all blows up in her face. But otherwise, eh...
...better than expected.
7958769 She attempted to trick them and then choose to let them win. Twilligth's arguments weren't enough for you? Celestia could've already renewed the spell a couple of time at this point.
I'd trust her at this point.
7958854 Considering that she is carrying some guilt over Nigthmare Moon, it doesn't feel out of character to me.
Yep, she is not rationnal, but it's something far more powerful at works here: emotions.
7959638
Hmm, no, I don't think Celestia actually could have renewed the spell just like that - that's, like, the sole given reason why this side of the story has dragged on until this point. That Celestia couldn't risk casting the spells while Twilight is in Canterlot and intending to oppose her. That's literally what the story hinges on, else Celestia could have recast the spells ages ago instead of trying to get Twilight away from Canterlot on faux missions. And then there's the fact Twilight actually had one of Celestia's journals in her possession, which Celestia supposedly also needs to complete the ritual.
And now Celestia has successfully put Twilight off-guard, has gotten her missing journal back and conveniently convinced everyone to wait until tomorrow for any actual explanations? After showing just hours ago that she's ready to tell people what they want to hear in order to get what she wants? Yeah, couple that with how desperately Twilight wants to not oppose Celestia and is thus likely to blindly leap at any chance seemingly given to her, and I would be sleeping with my proverbial gun under the pillow that night
Can't say I really care for the whole thing with Sunset being Twilight's aunt. =/ Still really enjoying this story though. =)
7959876
Look to me like she could've just bypassd them all.
As for the "What they want to hear part", keep in mind this:
Meaning that Twilligth would've been able to:
-1 ask evrything and get every answers in the morning as promised.
-2 break the spell again.
Celestia is not entierly clean, in fact, she is at the center of the whole mes, that's the whole point of the story. But at this moment it does feel like a surrender.
7960284
She still doesn't have one of her journals the spell is anchored to - the one in Twilight's possession. While I imagine it's not impossible that she could make a new one, that's likely neither quick nor subtle. And even if she did she can't actually cast the spell quickly or subtly.
That's, like, the whole reason she wanted to send Twilight away on the changeling diplomacy mission - the whole reason the plot has been crawling along at a snail's pace while we waited for the date Twilight was supposed to leave on.
She needed Twilight far, far away from Canterlot when she was attempting to renew the spell, else Twilight could have sensed it and stopped it, implying just how long the casting process is, if Twilight intervening from anywhere within Canterlot is a real concern. We have like 45k thousand words that are otherwise a giant plothole if it suddenly turns out that Celestia could have renewed the spell instantly at any time and without anyone being able to stop her from a few rooms away.
Well, I'm also deeply suspicious of Celestia at this moment and hoping that Starlight keeps her sound mistrust, making her cast some mind magic shield that might at least hold off the effect of spell renewal for a few hours.
A little critique:
This was a great scene. A textbook politician's sentence - easy to decipher when you see it written, but very hard to catch during a conversation. Especially when that conversation is loaded with held back emotion.
Anyway. I think it would have worked better if you hadn't come back to it so often, namely with Luna's thoughts. I felt a bit like 'yeah, I got it the first time' there. Having Luna relay Celestia's promise to Twilight verbatim and letting Twilight figure out the real meaning wouldn't feel like an explanation for the reader's sake. An interesting side effect of this might have been Pinkie realising that the Pinkie Promise was used for a deception. After all, part of the promise's conditions could not have been met by default.
/ramble.
I love this story.
7960734 Before this chapter, I would've maybe agreed with you, but Celestia proved that she knew that Twillight was planning on trying something. If she felt that she could still carry on with her plan despite that, then I doubt that she needed Twillight to be away. I rather suspect that just like her student she did not want a magical confrontation. It might even be that she wanted to renew the spell but only on a short range (say, only Canterlot) and wanted Twillight to be far enough to not be affected. Afterall, she did not want to erase Twillight's memories.
And as a side notes, if blocking the spell renewal was easy, why were they worried about failling to stop Celestia? The plan would've simply been something like "Let's stay close from each others, let Twillight block the spell and that's it!"
I'm grateful. At the end of a rough week, I had this waiting for me. And it didn't disappoint!
Way to keep the tension between Celestia and Twilight while keeping with the ethos of the show. It's like a game of chicken to see who would swerve from her ideals first. Well, maybe not the best metaphor because one wants to be the first to swerve in this case. Maybe it's more like a game of chess: the winner is the one to make the second-to-last mistake, only mistakes in this case are courtesies. ...I should probably quit while I'm ahead.
As for the human side, I've gotta say, I really don't envy Fred Turner's color scheme. Before you showed his fur color I thought he might be slated to become a mare, but that made me realize I'm actually hoping against tf/tg in this setting. With my writing history, I can't deny being a fan, but in this setting I think it would be a distraction.
7957942
Although "I" is grammatically correct, "me" is something most people in America would say.
7961234
This pretty much nails what I was going for in this subplot. It was not that Celestia absolutely could not renew the spell with Twilight around, it was more that she didn't want her very inquisitive former student asking questions, especially knowing that Twilight had already detected the anomaly.
In reading over the comments, however, there are likely places where the plot could be tightened up a bit, so I may do some editing at some point in the future.
7961302
What's interesting is that I wound up rewriting this chapter about three times. The first draft had a more serious confrontation which I thought would be nicely dramatic, but after stepping away from it for a bit, I realized it edged over into melodrama. So I tossed that out and wrote a new version which went too far in the opposite direction (to give you an idea how bad it was, Rainbow Dash had a line of dialog that went "Come on, Twi, we're the Elements of Harmony, not the Lawyers of Harmony!"). The new version was dreadfully boring, so I tossed that. The version that I ultimately posted I felt was a good middle-ground and more in keeping with the spirit of the show.
And as for the tf/tg, yeah, I can confirm there's no gender-bending in this story. Men become stallions and women become mares (or colts and fillies depending on age). Not that I'm averse to writing such things, just that as you mentioned, I felt it would be a distraction to the main story).
7960608
That's kind of why I'd never want to become a pony. Besides liking my hands too much, I also am quite the meat-eater.
(written while pork chops are cooking in the oven ... mmm, pork chops ...)
7960006
I figured not everyone would like that particular aspect of the story (especially Twilight/Sunset shippers), but I didn't recall seeing that done in another story before, and it made for some interesting dynamics.
7957942
Oops, missed this one until I saw badninja's reply. I'm on the fence about changing this one. "You and I" is technically more grammatically correct, but I hear "you and me" quite a lot.
7961344
I ... unless I am missing something - which is possible - then I am afraid this explanation doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If she could renew the spell at any time and in reality there was nothing Twilight could have done about it, and she doesn't want Twilight asking any questions, then the blatantly obvious answer is to renew the spell as soon as possible and make her forget she ever had any questions in the first place. Game, set, match with a bow on top.
If Twilight's interference indeed poses no credible concern or possibility of failure on Celestia's part, then I must concur with the sentiment that the plot has been needlessly "dragging". With this reveal it all feels like fake tension that Celestia actually should have wrapped up two chapters in so the plot could have moved on to other things, rather than spin its wheels in place because of reasons that have now been revealed as forced/untrue and only serve to artificially prolong this part of the story.
7961382 both are correct in different occasions.
You and me would be used for something like "something was given/done to you and something was given/done to me".
Likewise, you and I could be, like in the penned example "You have a lot to talk about and I have a lot to talk about".
7961394
My explanation may have been a bit simplistic in retrospect.
Celestia's intent had been this: Find a way to renew the spell without Twilight noticing combined with a quick-fix for the anomaly so there would be nothing further to investigate. At this point she was not thinking in terms of Twilight stopping her. She was more thinking in terms of what Twilight would think of her. Being able to deal quietly with the matter, then picking a time and place of her choosing to explain things to Twilight (which, by the way, would give her the chance to redact whatever she pleased), was her initial plan, leaving her in full control of the situation.
As time went on, and as Twilight delved into the matter further, these plans started to fall apart. It was only then that Celestia even entertained the notion that Twilight might actively try to stop her. However, by the time she got to this point, she started feeling the guilt over what she had originally done, which made her reluctant to simply wipe Twilight's memory of encountering the anomaly. Even when she started to contemplate wiping more modern memories, she wanted to exempt Twilight.
The reason I didn't wrap up this part of the plot sooner was that I was trying to be more subtle (and maybe I didn't do as well on that point as I would have liked). I wanted there to be character development here, such as Twilight coming to grips with how she viewed Celestia, building up the relationship between Twilight and Starlight, and so on. I also used it as a means to reveal more hints of what Sunset was up to. I felt this preferable to revealing all in one chapter (admittedly the next chapter will be rather revealing, but it hopefully what was already revealed will dovetail properly into it).
So I'm willing to accept that it didn't come across quite as intended, but I did want to explain where I was coming from. I had no intention of creating tension just for tension's sake.
7961733
Thanks for the clarification on that. it would be an easy edit to make in this case, since it can be removed without detracting from the flow of the story.
I've portrayed Kevin as a very pragmatic person who has a good sense for his patients' attitude. He felt it would be a waste of time at this point to try to convince him to seek further medical aid. Turner made it very clear he wasn't very trusting of Kevin, and that show of Earth pony strength spooked him a bit. He didn't want to risk Turner getting violent.
This is going to be covered in upcoming chapters.
Yes, you're absolutely right, but there are common misconceptions out there about hospitals, and Harold is expressing that. He is also fearful of the financial toll (again, harboring some of those same misconceptions).
At the same time, however, I could see where that might be interpreted as him worrying too much about money matters and not enough about family. I could probably touch up that scene a bit without substantially changing the plot.
Yes, you're absolutely right. For horses on Earth. They're turning into magical Equestrian ponies. We could argue that just because Equestria's ponies have not been shown to eat meat doesn't mean they can't, but I made a conscious decision to consider "Equestrian ponies don't eat meat" as canon.
7958093
I'm not a fan of tyrant Celestia. I tried to portray her as close to her depiction in the show as possible.
7961840 I never said you were, I said that I'm glad someone didn't accidentally turn her into tyrant Celestia after making a mistake like this.
The suspense is real. Gonna be a long week.
Great chapters though!
7961519
Thanks for taking the time to expand on the questions - I'm going to have a few more if you don't mind, I'm just trying to understand the logic behind what was happened so that I don't have to feel like the pony side of things is built upon plotholes and conveniences, which I certainly don't want to be feeling considering how promising the story has otherwise has been up until this point.
Like this part:
Why is Twilight potentially noticing anything a concern for Celestia at this specific point in time? I can accept that she, like you said, developed a feeling of guilt at a later time and didn't want to simply wipe her memory any more, but she didn't have it from the start. So why not simply recast her spell after the end of chapter 2 or so, right when the whole mess started? It doesn't matter if Twilight would notice anything, because she would forget about noticing a few moments later and Celestia wouldn't have to answer any uncomfortable questions.
Just mindwipe them at the end of chapter 2 and she can take all the time in the world she needs afterwards to come up with a favorable time to explain things to Twilight. She's not really on any pressing timetable. Or not, because there wouldn't be any need to at that point, as Twilight would remember nothing and could go back to being her happy ignorant self.
There is literally no need for any plans on Celestia's part at any time, at any stage of the story that I can see - with the reveal that Twilight in reality could have done nothing to stop Celestia, it shouldn't really matter if she is actively trying to stop her or not. If Twilight can do nothing about it, then it really shouldn't be putting any pressure on Celestia because she can be done with a wave of her horn and that's that, regardless of what Twilight was doing at that time.
In light of this, I'm even more confused about her attempt to send Twilight away on a diplomatic mission. Why would she do that if it doesn't matter whether Twilight is anywhere near Canterlot or not? The very fact of doing so was obviously going to escalate the tension and mistrust between them, and if Twilight's presence or absence doesn't make any difference for Celestia's ability to perform her spells, then why is she doing something which feels pretty contrived and counter-productive?
And speaking of guilt, why does Celestia develop an unwillingness to mindwipe Twilight specifically? (I'm assuming she's truthful on this). I mean - she seems to have zero qualms about mindwiping even her own sister, so why is Twilight of all ponies causing her to hesitate?
Granted, your depiction of Starlight has been wonderful and seeing her interactions with Twilight has been a real treat - I'm certainly not going to begrudge that! Like I said before, you do Starlight amazingly well - perhaps the first appearance of Starlight in any story that doesn't make me cringe, but rather makes me appreciate it.
And that's certainly a good thing, but I'm not sure if there has been much character development beyond that - though the last chapter might have jumpstarted some for Celestia, if she's truthful about coming clean and simply wanting to wait until tomorrow for ... something, instead of using the time to complete her spell.
Luna has been a pretty weak presence overall and it doesn't really feel like Twilight has at all changed how she views and relates to Celestia, despite what has happened. I imagine the next chapter might work these aspects over a bit more, but it honestly doesn't feel like all that much character growth has been going on as everyone was too busy chasing what turned out to be a false premise :/
7962428
I think there's some confusion on how the spell works. The original spell operated on the past memories of Sunset, not new memories that anyone is making in the present. So if Celestia renewed her spell right then and there, Twilight's more recent memories would not be affected. That would require a second spell (in retrospect, I see that I may have introduced the confusion myself. I should have stated more clearly in the later chapters that this was a separate spell that Celestia would need to cast).
If Celestia had renewed her spell early, Twilight would have sensed it (as I noted later on) due to the dark magic involved. But the point is moot because Celestia had no need to renew that spell yet. At the end of the chapter 2, Celestia had only JUST discovered the trouble with the anomaly and was still considering her options. She had yet to learn that the spell suppressing memories of Sunset was starting to weaken. She believed she had time to weigh her options and determine a course of action.
As for sending her on the diplomatic mission to get her away from Canterlot, this was most certainly not the best thought out strategy on Celestia's part. She was banking on, as Starlight put it, being Celestia's good little former student and doing what she was told. She started to suspect from her conversations with Luna that she and Twilight were colluding, but again was banking on an invalid assumption, that Luna would remain passive through the whole thing. I have noted some comments complaining about Luna's passiveness, but realize this is the first time that she's ever had to stand up to her sister since returning from the moon. I felt she would be reluctant to do so, especially considering how long into the MLP series it took before Luna finally dealt with her guilt over Nightmare Moon.
By the time Sunset Glow came to see Celestia, she realized things were spiralling out of control. That was when she started to worry that Twilight might actively try to block her. She had not considered that possibility until that point. So then it became a matter of keeping Twilight away long enough for her to renew the spell.
As for the immediate aftermath of this as it pertains to Twilight's views concerning Celestia, this will come out more in the upcoming chapters. In this one she was focused on the resolution of the immediate crisis. She needs time to think over what has happened, especially considering she has a "new" set of memories to sort through.
Thanks for the continued feedback, it's been very helpful.
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Hmm, aye - the information on how the spell actually works would have been pretty valuable for the purposes of allying the confusion; things are finally starting to come into focus for me with this new bit of information. All this time it seemed like Celestia could simply wave her horn, ping her old spell and make anyone forget anything she wanted (though I guess she can still actually do that if she casts another spell, if I understood things right, so long as she chose the proper focus?).
So let me see if I have this right ... you say the spell uses Sunset's memories as the filtering lens, so I'm assuming that means anything and anyone who Sunset herself remembers being in contact with (at the time of the casting) was forced to 'forget' all about those interactions? And recasting the spell would simply ... hmm ... do what, actually?
Because if the spell wouldn't affect anything new that has happened since Sunset's banishment (since she would be unaware of these events, obviously), then it seems like recasting it wouldn't actually do much - Twilight would still remember all she has learned, Twilight's friends would remember what she has told them, Twilight's parents and grandparents would know what Twilight has revealed to them, Luna would remember all of it ...
The more I think about it, the more it sounds like recasting the spell wouldn't really do anything to advance Celestia's goals, if I'm understanding right how it's meant to work, because the only people affected by the re-cast would be ones whom Twilight actually hasn't been in contact with, who obviously thusly aren't an issue in the first place. Those whom Sunset knew in the past but have no real bearing or stake in the current crisis. So it sounds like recasting the spell actually wouldn't have done anything of note.
Hm .... though I guess that might have made for a nice plot twist had Celestia actually succeeded in recasting the spell? It did seem like she was wholly ignorant of how much Twilight already knows (and thus how much everyone whom Twilight has clued in actually know), and thus could have thought all she needs to fix is a teensy weensy little crack with a band aid (vague feelings and largely unsubstantiated suspicions), while in reality the dam has been broken and water's pouring through in force where she can't see it and being unaware of the true magnitude of the leak (Twilight having most of the basics of what happened down as actual facts, and thus everyone who has been in contact with her).
Hmmm ... *scratches head* Though that can't be wholly "it" either - after all, Celestia clearly expected to bewitch both Luna and Twilight with her spell, considering her Pinkie Promise - she clearly expected neither would remember a thing in the morning. And while she might be unaware of how deeply Twilight has dug and thus could potentially dodge the spell, she should be well aware that recasting said spell which uses Sunset's memories for the purposes of deletion targets would have no effect on Luna, whom Sunset would have obviously never seen or known about.
So ... I guess Celestia was planning on casting a second spell after all? One which planned to use the anomaly and knowledge about it for purposes of target-finding? Or something?
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And I guess I am still slightly confused about why Celestia should be worried about Twilight trying to potentially actively block her. Unless I am getting it wrong, from recently established information it does seem that, contrary to initial belief, Twilight could have done absolutely nothing to prevent Celestia from actually going about her business - and from the sounds of it recasting the spell takes neither much time nor effort for Celestia. Like, at all. Why does Celestia need to worry about "keeping Twilight away for long enough", when simply excusing herself for a potty break at any random time during the day seems like all the time she would need to go about her business ?
Also - why did Celestia suddenly develop feelings of guilt over Twilight of all ponies and was later considering of keeping specifically her memories intact, when she seems to have no such issues with mindwiping even her own sister?
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As for Luna, I believe it's the magnitude of the wrongness involved here that she refuses to stand up to that leads me, indeed, considering her a passive coward. It's one thing to not challenge her over minor (or even some major) things and decisions, but this is so mind-boggingly huge that I don't even know what to say. Celestia basically told her, to her face "I am going to use dark magic to mindrape you and hundreds of Equestria's citizens, now please get out of my way and don't bother me" and Luna basically went "ok" and rolled over. That ... I simply have no words for. Nor respect. The sheer scale of how screwed up this is .... this goes well past what I can consider and write off as reasonable unwillingness to stand up to her sister. This is far more messed up than what Luna ever actually succeeded at doing as Nightmare during her three minute reign
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And that's fine on Twilight and Celestia and their relationship if it's still going to develop and be addressed in future chapters. Because seeing how Twilight acted during her "confrontation" with Celestia (her apologizing for raising her voice for a whole sentence or two considering the sheer fuckery Celestia is engaged with left me with a pretty serious case of facepalm) leads me to believe she's still the same star-eyed filly who is incapable of thinking a single bad thought about her mentor and would still happily go jump in an active volcano if Celestia but asked.
I hope that at least Shining Armor and Cadence won't be tripping over themselves to dismiss all of Celestia's wrongdoings and try to absolve her of all guilt so long as she finally coughs up a few truths, like everyone else seems to be doing. Someone has to have a spine in all of this besides Celestia herself, right ?
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I would also like to point out that he does have access to a patient that will be far more willing and wants the help. He can either deal with a troublesome patient or one that is fearful but willing. Kevin just knows where to cut his losses. My question is how fast will we be seeing either homes becoming quarantined or the whole town getting quarantined?